Obviously the Antinomianism [anti Law] of Paul got into the early church deeply

I am surprised that many people that teach Christianity seem unaware of issues that I would think are important to know. Or at least to me they seem relevant.
The list could go on and on. For example I would have thought that Thomas Aquinas would be relevant. That is even if you don't agree with him on any or even every single point, still it seems that before I would speak about any topic, I might try to make it my business to be sure that I was familiar with the writings of people that had dealt with the exact same issues I wanted to speak about. Even more so. If you are in a classroom and the professor gives you a  hard equation in Calculus to solve, and the smartest kid in the room comes up with a different answer than you, would that not give you a minute's pause?  Would you not recheck your work? Would you not wonder if maybe you made a mistake?
But that is just one of many examples. For another, let's take the evangelical movement. How many people in that movement are even dimly aware of its history, or that it even has a history from Azusa Street? [They seem to think the movement was born in its full glory as Athena born from the forehead of Zeus.] [How many evangelicals today would even recognize the name Parham, arguably the father the evangelical movement? Or Seymour for that matter--the ipso facto founder of that  movement which has altered the face of Protestantism.

There is the issue of the many writings of early Christians that seem  relevant. I have not really formulated my thoughts about all this very well, and this is just a reminder to myself about some issues. There are plenty of issues in the printed NT also that are ignored:-- Christology for example. There are deep differences there between gospel writers about who and what they thought of Christ, and what kind of role they thought he fulfilled. Obviously the Antinomianism [anti Law] of Paul got into the early church deeply and it is a thread of Christian thought that continues until today.
[Marcion, Valentinus, Ebion church, Anabaptists, etc. The aspcet of anti Torah of Valentius was not apparent at first. It was seen he evaporate the meaning of the Law. But the immoral tendencies only became apparent when it broke off into two sects,  the Marcosians and the Ophites.]


What to think of all this is not clear as I myself stand outside the church. It is relevant because of people like Avraham Abulafia the medieval mystic that saw in Jesus the messiah son of Joseph predicted in the Talmud Suka. And there is a mention of this in the Ari. That is at the end of the book of Genesis when the burial of Joseph is discussed by Reb Chaim Vital, there is a comment that shows his agreement with Rav Abulafia. [That is not the only place though in the Ari.] Rav Yaakov Emden came to the same conclusion, but I am pretty  sure he did so on his own without knowledge of Rav Abulafia or the Ari. [Rav Abulfia's books were only printed a few years ago. And the reference in the Ari is kind of obscure.]

[The thing which bothers most people I think is the history of the church as it relates to Jewish people, and that is in fact a significant point. But it is no less significant that when you need a kindness nowadays you know the address to go to. That is a fact that has certainly not escaped people's attention when they are in need. And it is certainly forgotten about the minute they are no longer in need.]

[The simple fact of the matter is contained in the Ari in what he writes about the breaking of the vessels in which the light of kindness is contained in יסוד (foundation) after the tikun.]

The Left has clearly made politics into a religion and have found support for this from Hegel.

Politics is not numinous reality. It is not and ought not to be a religion. But it serves as religion for many. Perhaps it is better than some really bad religions. But as a rule there is no aspect of transcendence that applies to politics.

There is no reward in heaven for advancing some system of human organization. Not Democracy, not Socialism. Ziltch.

Even one's particular group or cult does not get one into Heaven.
You either act right,- or you don't. That is all there is to it.


[The Left has clearly made politics into a religion and have found support for this from Hegel. And almost all people that are religious also try to make their religion into a political system and assume that that great mitzva will get them into Heaven. That is just one more of the many ways people go wrong.]  

The religious world is a haunted house full of demons and goblins.

  It is more instructive to learn the writings of people that left cults than it is to learn about the cults themselves. There was one fellow that left a Hindu cult  that had a lot of great insights into the whole problem of cults. [I am referring to the cult of Adi Da. He had one disciple who left him and wrote about the problems with that cult in a very insightful way.]

  One thing he noticed that I would like to take a few minutes to discuss is the issue of archetypes. In short, the basic idea really begins with the fact  that people that get into the Intermediate Zone have a problem with ego inflation. 

  What he suggested was that even people that successfully get absorbed into some higher archetype are still to be avoided, because the human soul is higher than any archetype. Coming close to a person that you believe has successfully avoided the Intermediate Zone and the Dark Side, and you think has merited to become one with some higher archetype, will still have the effect of damage to your own soul.   


  That being said, there still were in history great people that merited to wondrous and amazing things. These people are not secret. We have no doubts about Einstein, Mozart, Moses, the Rambam, the Gra, Reb Israel Salanter, Rav Shach, Bava Sali, Plato, etc. 

  But we also know about people that were a mixed bag and some who were very great in intellect and yet did horrific damage. 

  The greatest problem seems to be in the area of numinous [religious] reality.-- because that is where when people fall and do damage that they fall the hardest and do the most harm. 

The trouble seems endemic in the religious world. The religious world is a haunted house full of demons and goblins. It is hard to find a corner of light.  

The best idea is to find examples of human excellence that truly were excellent and not take for one's goal to emulate people that were a mixed bag of good and bad ideas.


There are problems on two sides. One is religious fanatics of high self delusions, and the other is what is called anti-nomian-ism [anti-Law].   In this essay I have dealt mainly with the first problem because it fills the religious world today. The trouble is these two things are connected. Often the exact same group with the self delusions is the same as the antinomianism group. They use the Law of Moses as a cover and disguise.  

The Rambam's learning program

The Rambam has a learning program that involves dividing one day into three parts.  A third for the written Torah [Tenach/Old Testament].Another third for the Oral Law. Another third for deepening one's understanding of the Oral Law, that is Gemara. It sounds at first when he says the Oral Law he means the Talmud. But the actual language he uses is "Oral Law,"- the same exact terminology he uses for his own Mishne Torah.

That means, he considers  his book the Mishna Torah as containing the Oral Law.  It is in the  third part of deepening one's understanding of the Oral Law that learning the Talmud comes into his program.

Included in the third part of his program is Metaphysics and Physics as he says openly in Mishne Torah. [He explained this is more detail in the Guide. In the beginning of the Guide he explains what he means by Physics and Metaphysics and later explains why they are important.]

So he considers deepening one's understanding of the Mishne Torah as the essence of Gemara.
Thus nowadays what one ought to do after finishing the Mishne Torah straight through [which should take a few weeks at most], is to learn it again with Rav Shach's Avi Ezri, Reb Chaim Soloveitchik's חידושי הרמב''ם, and the books of the disciples of Reb Chaim-- Reb Baruch Ber, and Shimon Shkop. Plus Naphtali Troup (חידושי הגרנ''ט).

I am  pleased with seeing this with clarity because it has the benefit of fitting in with how I tend to learn the Gemara--that is to concentrate on one sugia at a time. That is-- to spend a great deal of time on one sugia (subject) which generally includes a few tosphots and a chapter  or two in the Rambam plus the portion of the Avi Ezri or Chidushei HaRambam that happen to deal with that particular sugia.
It is nice to see that this in fact fits in exactly with what the Rambam was saying anyway before I even realized that this is exactly what the the Rambam was saying to do.


Seeing this also has the advantage that it fits with something secret the daughter of Bava Sali told me.And also it fits with my parents idea about Torah.

s89 s84 music files

s89 e flat major  s84 C Major

Two problems with many people that are religious: ego inflation, and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).

The problem with religion was noticed by Sapolsky.[Robert Sapolsky at Stanford]
The problem is that of motivation as it relates to schizoid personalities.
That is, since as the Ari says most of this world is evil, we have to assume the majority of people obsessed with religion are doing it from the standpoint of Schizoid personalities. [Their obsession with ritual and sex is really a form of OCD.]
And that also means those that are obsessed with religion from the standpoint of trying to disprove some religion, or all religion, are also coming from the standpoint of a a schizoid  personality.


But we also know of authentic mystics and tzadikim that were God filled. Their service towards God was certainly not from some personality defect. Some example might be Bava Sali or the Gra or the Rambam.


The way I think to deal with this is from the idea of Dr. Kelley Ross--that of intention.[That is he solves the problem of Ontological undecidability by means of intention and that is what I think makes the main difference here also.]


The other problem with religion I noticed is ego inflation. This can either be a flattering image of one's self as some kind of central world figure. Or it can refer in its beginning stages to one's group. In either case it is a terrible mental disease. And it exists in all religious teachers that I have seen. And in fact in a large majority of religious people.
Both effects OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and Ego Inflation are direct results of what Kant called "Antimonies."That is contradictions that results when pure reason enter into areas of the dinge an sich.

The problem with dentists

There is a lot to go into in terms of the issue about teeth. As I mentioned dentists are notorious for making up work to do that is totally not necessary and has the effect of making holes in one's teeth and then they fill up the hole they themselves make with some putty that eventually falls out and then food and bacteria get into the tooth and ruin it. As I said I would only trust the NYU clinic in Manhattan or dentists in former USSR that make sure never to do work that is unnecessary. [In Israel, I did find a great dentist in Netivot, but he was anyway trained in the former USSR.]

[The problem with dentists I noticed myself but it was also documented on American Journal.] [They walked into clinic after clinic after the producer' teeth had been found to be perfect and every single clinic claimed he needed lost of work to be done.]